Bermuda ran it very close as they went on to win their first ever U/19 Cricket World Cup match by just 20 runs against Ireland at the Royal Selangor Club on Thursday.

The Irish were in no way lucky as even some superb batting performances saw them fall agonizingly short of the target in this Group D encounter. Playing their third and final game of the group stage, both Ireland and Bermuda were battling for their first win of the tournament and the third place slot in the group.
 
Having lost to cricketing giants England and Bangladesh by huge margins, both teams were in need of some inspiration – and it seemed the Irish were looking the hungriest of the lot at the start.  

Electing to field, Ireland's seamers Andrew Britton (1-45) and Richard Keaveney (2-50) made early breakthroughs, both wickets taken in a similar style. In both instances, the ball moving away from the batsmen was fished outside off-stump only for wicket-keeper Stuart Poynter to take the catches quite comfortably.
 
Bermuda's Christopher Douglas (27), who certainly possesses a batting flair, went on to post his highest score of the tournament. Douglas combined with Captain Rodney Trott (64) as the pair put on a 36-run partnership in which Douglas had a top-edge fly over the deep cover ropes for a humungous six.

From here on, Bermuda took the fight to Ireland with Malachi Jones (58) entering the fray, after Douglas too had edged the ball behind to the keeper, with the team at 65 for four. The fast bowler gave his captain tremendous support as the pair coined together a 106-run partnership.

With the spinners coming on, Trott and Jones were resolute in their defense, ran quickly and smartly between the wickets and were soon hitting boundaries all over the park. Irish skipper Greg Thompson (1-27) tried mixing things up by bringing on Andrew Balbirnie (0-12) and switching Ben Ackland (1-38) to the opposite end after a short moment; nothing seemed to work. Their performance was a clear showing of why the two are top choice for their senior squad.

An exhausted Jones was soon dismissed, almost comically, not realizing he had been bowled by Thompson as he stood at the crease wondering what the Irish were celebrating for. Trott soon followed but both batsmen left to the sound of applause. Jordan De Silva's last-stand 26 saw Bermuda finish on the score of 221, completing their 50 overs for the first time this tournament.

"It was really humid out there and since I'm not used to it, it was hard. Rodney and I knew all we had to do was stay and the runs would come so that was our game-plan", said Jones.

Team Manager Gerald Bean chipped in by saying, "Finishing off the 50 overs is something that we keep telling the team. There is no need to be rushing to get the runs and today, after playing out our 50 overs, we scored 221 runs, our best so far in this World Cup."

Jones was once again in the thick of action, this time in the second innings with the ball. After having a first-delivery leg before wicket appeal turned down against Chris Dougherty (70), Jones' next over (third over) had him trap the out-of-sorts Paul Stirling (5) in front of the stumps.

That was the most celebration to come from Bermuda in a while because Dougherty and Ackland (37) took charge. With a very similar batting idea to that of Jones and Trott in the first innings, Dougherty and Ackland started off slowly knowing that the runs would eventually come – and the runs certainly did, 91 altogether between them.

It was a very frustrating spell for the Bermudians as the pair batted close to 25 overs gradually subduing the fielders; Dougherty's placement and timing of the ball, at times not giving the opposition a chance to rest.  Even after Ackland dismissal in the 27th over, James Hall (25) replaced Ackland's tactics and it certainly looked as though Ireland were not nearly done by a long shot.

A required run-rate of exactly six an over was made all the more taxing for the batsmen when man of the match Christopher Douglas (5-40) made the breakthrough dismissing Dougherty and Ackland. As the asking rate climbed, Ireland began to panic and it showed when they lost seven of their wickets in just over eight overs; Douglas being the cause of the damage to the top order.

A historic win for Bermuda – heartbreak for Ireland and both teams now leave Kuala Lumpur for Johor Bahru to compete in the Plate Championship round starting on 24 February.